Master of Death
by Caspian28
Summary: After being oppressed by the Shadowhunters because they joined forces with Jonathan Christopher Morgenstern, the Seelie Court is out for revenge. The best way to do that? Raise Jonathan himself. Already armed with the Resurrection Stone, the Seelie Queen turns her eyes to Hogwarts to find the last two Hallows and become the Master of Death.
1. Prologue

**A/N: So basically, this is a HP/TMI crossover, as you've probably already guessed since you clicked on it to read it. It takes place in the year 2022, when Jace and Clary are both 31. They've been relocated to the London Institute, which Alec has been appointed to run. To make the rest of the story easier to read:**

 **Jace and Clary have one son, Stephen "Stevie" Michael Herondale and one daughter, Teresa Isabelle Herdonale.**

 **Teddy and Victoire Lupin have one son, William "Will" Arthur Lupin (he did not inherit Teddy's metamorphagus traits)**

 **Harry is still head of the Auror Department. Hermione works in the Department of Magical Law Enforcment but is still closely tied to the Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, where she used to work.**

 **Teddy is an Auror, and James is training under him. Victoire is a Healer. Rose, Albus, and Scorpius Malfoy are in their seventh year at Hogwarts.**

 **I don't promise regular updates or anything, because I'm going away for a month sans internet/computer access ^.^**

 **P.S. If you want mindless fluff, this is not the story for you. It has a very intense plot k thx.**

 **-Spider (Chuck3397) and Caspian (me, duh) :D ((We're both girls tbh))**

 **xxxxxxx**

Prologue

The Seelie Queen strode quietly through the darkness of the Forbidden Forest, dressed in a simple robe. For any other task, she would have sent some lesser fey to gather what she needed, but not this one. This could be entrusted to no one else.

She drifted among the trees, ignoring the eerie whispers of the forest. They spoke of old battles and adventures, but she didn't need to listen to them; she didn't care about the wizarding world. It was a trifle – nay, a future trophy. But it was not concerning now.

There was one battle that she cared about. It was the same one that she still felt the sting of oppression from, even now. The Clave had proved true to their word, and had not eased a single constrained placed on the Fey Folk since the day they fought with Jonathan Christopher Morgenstern. She had foolishly chosen the wrong side, so blinded by power she was. But she would not do so this time. No, this time, she had a goal, a tactic no one would see coming.

A glow in her peripheral vision caught her eye. A unicorn, of course. It had been a long time since she had tasted the succulent blood of a young unicorn. Fate seemed to be simling upon her, tonight.

The unicorn didn't shy away as she neared. She was a female, of course. The unicorn trusted her. Once near enough, she raised a dagger and threw it quickly and with precision. It embedded itself in the heart of the unicorn, which fell. Even in death, it was graceful.

They say that drinking unicorn blood extended the life of the drinker, but damned their souls. However, she was neither wizard nor human; she was immortal, and she was already damned. Knowing this, she lowered her head to drink the silver blood of the unicorn.

She licked her lips as she drained the unicorn dry of all its blood. Nothing tasted quite like unicorn blood, not even fey food. Perhaps it was the taste of innocence that it surely carried with it. She hadn't tasted the blood of a unicorn in eons; it was never wise to kill too many at once. It would arouse suspicions best left buried.

Sighing, she stood up and continued on. That was enjoyable, but not the purpose of the night. The night was much more important than that. This night would be one of the most important nights in history; human, Shadowhunter, wizard, or Downworlder.

She stopped, suddenly, sensing it beneath her. Her plotting and tracking had not failed her. It was here, beneath her very feet. She bent down, and delicately dug through many years worth of dead leaves, lichen, and humus, into old layers of the forest floor.

And there she found it. A simple stone, overgrown with moss, its strange inscription barely visible under layers of grime. She delicately, almost reverently picked it up. Ever so gently, she turned it thrice in her hand.

To her left, she heard a strange movment. It would not be detectable to human ears, but of course, she wasn't human.

"Jonathan, my love," she breathed without turning.

"It is I," he said in return. That was when she knew that it truly had worked. She turned to see the ethereal form of Jonathan Christopher Morgenstern, standing in the night. She took him in, from his white hair to his black eyes, and sighed contentedly.

"We have a war to fight, and a war to win," she said softly to him. She came as close as she dared, but not touching him; never touching. He looked real and spoke as if he were real, but he was simply a shadow of the true Jonathan Christopher Morgenstern.

Of course, she had feared it wouldn't work. She knew, they all knew, that the heavenly fire had burned out the demon in him, and he had become a regular human before dying. But this Jonathan, this was the one she knew. This was the demon. This was exactly who she needed.

"This time, it is ours," he said to her. "The world is ours, and it will burn."


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N: Here's chapter one! This is where you get a feel for the first few important characters. More, different ones, will follow in the next chapter (Clary and Jace will finally appear!)**

 **-Caspian**

Albus Severus Potter sat in his usual seat in the compartment of the Hogwarts Express, banging his head against the window. There was no one else in the compartment to stop him from killing his brain cells.

It was his last year at Hogwarts, his bloody _last year_ , and he was spending the first part of the train ride alone, due to the fact that his two best friends were Head Boy and Girl, and were currently in the Prefects compartment arranging patrols and holding a prefects' meeting.

Just. Bloody. Brilliant.

For lack of something better to do, he changed into his school robes. He sat back down, surpised to feel slightly more comfortable and at home with the Slytheirn crest gleaming on his chest. Not to mention the Quidditch Captain badge.

He managed to yank a book free from his trunk, which turned out to be _Quiddich Through the Ages_. He sighed in contentedness. There were worse things you could do while you waited for your best mates to come back from their Prefects meeting. You know – like bang your head against a window.

He lost track of time, absorbed in his favourite book, until suddenly the compartment door banged open, and in walked his best mates.

 _Walked_ was a loose term for what they were doing, though. It would be more accurate to say they staggered in, snogging the bloody faces off of each other. Lovely.

"Oi, you two. Get a room," he growled in annoyance as they collapsed onto the seat opposite from him. "You're bloody disgusting, and I do _not_ want to have to put up with this all the time."

They broke away from each other, thank Merlin.

"Albus, this _is_ a room. It's not our fault you're in it."

"Rose _bloody_ Weasley, you are insufferable," groaned Albus as the his absolutely wonderful cousin went back to snogging his equally wonderful best mate, Scorpius bloody Malfoy.

Rose and Scorpius had gotten together in the middle of sixth year. Everyone saw it coming, but that didn't prevent Uncle Ron from trying to hex Scorp's – erm – man parts off. It was hilarious, in a his-uncle-tried-to-castrate-his-best-mate sort of way.

"Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy, don't make me forcefully separate you both." Albus heard Scorpius grumble, presumably at the use of his full name, before hearing a mumbled, "Like you'd even try."

Albus rolled his eyes. Sometimes, they made it too easy. He flicked his wand, glad of the time he had spent practicing non-verbal spells over the summer. His silent shield charm sent them flying apart.

"Thank you. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to have a useful conversation with the both of you."

Scorpius gave him a dubious look, flipping his blond hair out of his eyes as he did so. "What we were doing _was_ useful," he said haughtily.

"What you were doing was sucking my cousins face off like a bloody dementor, and it was neither useful, nor a conversation, nor pleasing to watch." Best mates, sometimes. Oi.

"Well someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed," grumbled Rose. Albus didn't care. He did not. Bloody. Care.

"I'll have you know, my bed is against the wall, and therefore I can only wake up on one side of it, no matter what," Rose looked like she was about to say something, so Albus continued, cutting her off. "This is actually important. It was something dad told me, said it was top secret."

"Top secret? Top secret as in you shouldn't be telling anyone, top secret?" asked Scorpius, looking at him in a slightly confused way.

"Yes. Now shut up so I can tell you," Albus said, shooting him a glare.

"Al," said Rose thoughtfully, before he could continue, "I think I'm going to get you a dictionary for your birthday. Maybe then you'll understand what 'top secret' really means."

Albus just looked at her. "He said I could share with you two, you numbskulls. It's not as though he would tell me something without knowing my two best mates would hear about it, too. Now, are we all done with the interruptions?" They nodded silently. Scorpius' eyes, especially, seemed to be urging him to go on.

"Well, dad and Teddy, actually told me and Lily all this. Basically, as Head Auror, Dad has had to assign Ted to an interesting assignment. You know about the Clave in the Ministry of Magic, right?"

Rose nodded, while Scorpius shook his head. Before Albus could explain, rose jumped in to Scorpius' rescue. "I read about it somewhere," she said. "Basically, the Clave is a branch of the Ministry of Magic. And they're responsible for anything supernatural that happens in the world. So they're made up of Shadowhunters and Downworlders, and they keep demon activity down low, while the rest of the ministry is focused on controlling magic. But they all work together to keep all of this from the Muggles. The Shadowhunters call them Mundanes, I think."

"I knew most of that," Scorpius said in response, "I just didn't realize they were so closely tied with the Ministry of Magic."

"Most people don't," Rose replied. "The Minister always likes to keep it really secretive. I think people thought it would be different with Kingsley in charge, but it's still the same. We all just keep to ourselves, really."

"Exactly," continued Al. "Anyways, ten years or so after our war with Voldemort, they had a war of their own. Basically, the Seelie Court, which is made up of the fey people, teamed up with some evil guy named Jonathan or something who was in league with demons. They were going to destroy all the Shadowhunters and Downworlders and all of that. So the Shadowhunters and Downworlders teamed up and defeated them. But after the war, they put some super tough terms onto the Seelie so that it could never happen again. The thing is, it made the whole Seelie Court really mad, and now they think it _is_ going to happen again, only this time, they're going to involve the wizarding world."

"Why would they involve the wizards, though? And how?" mused Rose, after Al had finished explaining.

"Wands," Al replied solemnly. "They have their own type of magic. But if they could channel it through wands, it would probably be disastrous."

"Why did your dad tell you this, though?" asked Scorpius. "It's not as though it involves us."

"Well, the Ministry doesn't think it's a huge problem, so they'd only let Dad assign one Auror to the case. They don't really think we're going to be involved. So now, Teddy is working with the Shadowhunter war heroes, and so is Dad, sort of. But he told me this because they're also putting people in Hogwarts – as professors, I think. They're undercover, though, so I don't think anyone else will know."

"How do they put non-wizards in a wizarding school?" asked Scorpius. He looked nervous, and Albus couldn't blame him. As the son of a Death Eater, people usually blamed him whenever something went wrong at Hogwarts.

"Warlocks, I think. I'm not really sure. I guess we'll find out at the welcome feast tonight," Al said.

"I guess we will," replied Scorpius with a sigh. Rose put a comforting hand on Scorp's arm and pretty soon they were having another snog-fest.

Bloody best mates.

The feast started the same as usual. McGonogall stood up and spoke a few brief words, and then the food appeared.

"D'you reckon those are them, then?" asked Scorpius, gesturing to the High Table where the teachers sat.

Albus looked up from the chicken he was rather enjoying where Scorp was pointing. "Probably," he said. "They're the only ones we don't recognize."

Sitting next to a bemused looking Professor Longbottom was a man wearing bright pink, sparkling robes. His hair was spiked up, and looked like it had glitter in it. He also looked like he was wearing makeup. He was talking and gesturing wildly with his hands as he did so. Although Al realized on closer inspection that his gestures, while broad and sweeping, did have some control of them. Sort of.

Beside him, a woman was sitting. She was watching him as he talked, and she looked faintly amused. Compared to the Professor beside her, she looked perfectly normal. It was a funny contrast, really.

"I wonder what they'll be teaching," Al muttered to Scorpius.

"Are they even qualified to teach anything?" Albus shrugged in response.

"What're you two whispering about?" said a voice to Al's left. "You shouldn't keep secrets, you know."

"Oh, put a sock in it, Nott," Scorp responded. "We're just wondering who the new teachers are and what subjects they'll teach, is all."

Callum Nott was in their year and dorm in Slytherin. He wasn't bad, really, although he often liked to pry into other people's business. Al didn't like him, but he didn't hate him, either. He wasn't really allowed to hate him – the bloke was Scorpius' cousin. He was like Scorpius, though. Neither of them held the pure-blood beliefs that their parents did; their immersion in the culture of Hogwarts had wiped that out of them. Nott's dad, though, hadn't been a Death Eater like Scorpius' dad had been, and he didn't hold quite as tightly to the pure-blooded ideals that Scorp's family had. Ironically, he had been Albus' first Slytherin friend, until Scorpius had changed enough. Now, Al could barely stand the guy.

The rest of the meal was passed mostly in silence, as all the boys ate as much as they could before the end of the feast. Finally, the pudding came out and then disappeared, and McGonagall stood up to give her beginning of year speech.

"Welcome, students, to another year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," she said, her voice ringing out around the hall. Albus tuned out the rest of her speech, looking across the hall at the Gryffindor table. Lily was talking away to Rose animatedly, while Rose appeared to be trying to shush her and listen to the speech.

"We have two new teachers this year," continued McGonagall, winding down her speech. Al elbowed Scorpius, who was too busy staring across the hall at Rose to pay attention to what McGonagall was saying. Bloody best mates.

"Would you please welcome Madame Carstairs, who will be in charge of the infirmary this year," she said, as the woman stood up and gave a tentative wave before sitting back down. "And, we have a new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher," McGonagall continued. "Would you please welcome Professor Bane."

The man beside Professor Longbottom stood up and gave a sweeping bow. He lifted his hands and a bunch of purple light shot in an arc between them. It looked like wand sparks, but he didn't have a wand. Definitely a warlock, and a bloody cool one at that.

Most of the school watched in horror, but Al knew he was openly grinning. It was bloody awesome. As if sensing his enthusiasm, the man – Professor Bane – caught Al's eye and winked. When his eye opened, a cat's eye stared back at Al.


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N: First off, thanks for all the reviews :D You're all awesome. In response to a couple of them: this is a plot-driven story, so it's not going to have a ton of fluff and ship moments. That being said, there will definitely be some Scorose (maybe James and an OC but not until later on :D ), but probably not a lot of Clace because a) they're sort of middle aged which just makes me uncomfortable on a couple levels, but b) they aren't the main point of the story. It'll be more focused on Magnus and Tessa and the wizards. I also don't like playing around too much with characters that still have plot lines going when I'm writing a plot driven fic like this, because I want it to stay as canon as possible and we don't really know what's going to change.**

 **Secondly... most of my time is spent writing my original work, but part of the reason I write fanfiction is for the challenge of putting myself into the minds of other authors characters and trying to accurately find their voices. That being said, I don't know how well I'm doing with the TMI characters, mostly because I find it super weird writing them middle-aged lol. So any constructive feedback on that would be appreciated.**

 **Enjoy this chapter!**

Teddy Lupin stared into his mirror at himself. His brown hair was arranged neatly on his head, but he combed through it one last time, to make sure it was neat anyways.

"Edward Remus Lupin," he said to his reflection, "you are going to go in there, and be more professional than you have ever been before in your life."

"Talking to yourself, dear?" asked his wife Victoire. She walked in, carrying a squirming three year old in her arms.

He turned to her grinning, and his hair morphed into a bright blue colour. "Of course I'm talking to myself, Vic. Isn't it a sign of hidden genius?"

His son clapped and squealed at Teddy's bright blue hair while Victoire muttered just so Teddy could hear, "More like a sign of going senile in your twenties."

"I'll have you know, I am perfectly sane. Now Victoire," he turned back to the mirror with a flourish, "is my muggle clothing okay? And is blue hair professional enough, d'you think?"

"Blue hair is quite professional, yes. You look rather drab without it. You're an Auror, you don't work in an office. And your muggle clothing?" she raised an eyebrow at him. "You might not want to forget your pants."

Victoire turned around to walk into the kitchen, still holding her son. But before she left the room, he could hear her say, "Now, Will. Daddy is missing his pants because he's a Hufflepuff, and that's the sort of stuff they do. When you get to Hogwarts, you're going to be in Gryffindor, because we don't do silly things like that."

He heard is son reply solemnly back, "'kay, Mommy."

"OUTRAGE," Teddy yelled, sweeping into the kitchen. "BLASPHEMY TOWARDS THE NAME OF THE GOOD HELGA HUFFLEPUFF. PREJUDICE!"

"Go put pants on, dear," was Victoire's only response.

Teddy swooped in and picked his son up off the floor where Vic had put him, along with a toy car. "Come along, Prince William Arthur Lupin. You are going to help me pick out my pants."

"Ted, he needs to stay here and eat," said Victoire exasperated.

"Nonsense. You haven't even started cooking breakfast, yet. And I need to feed him my own prejudice to counter your anti-Hufflepuff-ness."

"That's not a word, Teddy dear," she said amusedly, as she was cracking eggs into a bowl.

"I don't care," he said. "Come along, Prince." He turned with dramatic flair, carrying his son out with him.

His son's name wasn't Prince, of course. To most of the family, he was called Will. But Teddy thought his name sounded rather Prince-like. William Arthur, Prince of the Weasley family. And the Lupin one. And the Potter one. Anyways, much to Victoire's chagrin, he began to call their child Prince. Or Prince William Arthur Lupin. Victoire secretly thought it was funny, though. He knew that. Well, he was pretty sure she did.

"Now, Prince," he said, setting his child down solemnly on his bed, "You should not listen to your mother. Well, you should," he quickly amended while pulling on a pair of muggle jeans, "but not right now. She is blathering nonsense. Hufflepuff is the house of kings."

"Daddy," said Prince, looking at him solemnly.

"Yes, Prince William Arthur Lupin?"

"Pink!" he shouted. Teddy sighed. This child had a one-track mind. Sighing, he screwed up his face and changed every single aspect of his features a bright, bubblegum pink. Prince William Aruthur Lupin squealed and clapped. Children.

Teddy walked out of the room with Prince on his hip, completely clothed, and bright pink. He walked into his kitchen to see James and Victoire sitting at the table and talking amiably.

"Oi, you're here early," he said to James. James just looked up at him.

"And you're pink," he finally responded. "Also, you have food. Mum's away reporting on a Harpies game, so I would have had to make breakfast myself. I'd probably burn down the kitchen."

"You could have just eaten cereal, you know," Teddy told him.

"Cereal," said James, "is not manly."

"And pancakes are?" asked Victoire, raising an eyebrow in her characteristic way.

"Pancakes are very manly," said James. "In a sweet, fluffly kind of way."

James was just finishing up his Auror training. Harry had pulled some strings so he was able to be Teddy's protégé, which they both found endlessly amusing. He was pretty sure Harry regretted it, though. They rarely, if ever, got their paperwork done.

James was here today to go with Teddy to the Shadowhunter institute in Lodon, to talk to the Shadowhunter war heroes about the fey situation.

Victoire put a platter of pancakes on the middle of the table, and they all sat down to eat. Teddy piled five pancakes onto his plate, but somehow James had gotten a hold of eight pancakes, and was currently slathering them with syrup.

"James Sirius Potter," said Victoire, "you had better be able to eat all of those."

"Victoire, have I ever given you reason to doubt me?" Victoire raised both eyebrows at him. James amended, "I mean, doubt my eating abilities."

"Well, I have a distinct memory of a seven year old James throwing up on a ten year old me because he had eaten five pieces of cake." Teddy laughed as Victoire shuddered.

"I remember that," he said. "You ate more slices than Freddy, though. Wasn't that the bet?"

"Yup. That was the day I became seven sickles richer. And I've hated vanilla cake ever since," said James, almost proudly.

Somehow, James had managed to finish eating during the conversation, and was now eyeing the last pancake on the platter, which Victoire was also eyeing hungrily.

"Don't you even think about it," Teddy said to James, who had begun to reach for the pancake. Teddy reached over and deposited the pancake on Victoire's plate. She smiled at him.

"You've eaten eight," he told James. "My wife has eaten two, and has another human life living inside of her. Isn't that right, Nymphadora Andromeda Lupin?" he asked the growing babybump on his wife's stomach.

"Teddy, how many times do I have to say this? We are not naming our child Nymphadora Andromeda."

"You got to name this one, though," Teddy whined, pointing to Prince William Arthur Lupin.

"Yes, and then you basically renamed him to Prince, so I think I get control of the next name, too."

"Women," Teddy huffed. It caused Victoire to roll her eyes. This was, essentially, a normal morning in the Lupin household.

"We should get going, Ted," James finally said. "We're supposed to meet them in a half hour, and we can't apparate directly there."

Teddy nodded in agreement. "Goodbye, my wonderful, occasionally blasphemous wife," he said, kissing Victoire on the cheek. "Goodbye, Prince William Arthur Lupin," he said, ruffling his son's hair. "Goodbye, Nymphadora Andromeda Lupin," he said, patting his wife's belly. Then, with a flourish, he apparated out of his home.

Ted appeared in front of a building that seemed quite nondescript. He sat down on a bench on the roadside and waited for James to appear.

"It's ugly," said James as he appeared with a pop next to Lupin. Lupin grinned and threw an arm around his shoulders.

"Ah, Jamesie," he said. "It's what's on the inside that counts, my dear brother."

"Ah, Teddy," James replied in the same fashion. "You are as completely insane as usual."

Arm in arm, they walked up to the door and knocked. They had to wait for a minute or two, but then the door was opened by a man. He was dressed in all black, but his hair was long, wild, and a contrasting gold, and so were his eyes. This was good. If Teddy was meeting a man with gold eyes, that meant that his blue hair really wasn't technically out of place.

"You're early," said the man, but he stepped back to let them enter.

"Daddy, that's rude," said a voice from somewhere in the shadows of the entryway. This voice had an American accent, unlike the voice of the man. His accent wasn't British, though. It was more lilting than that. Interesting.

Teddy peered around to see if he could see where it was coming from, but he couldn't see anything. Strange. It sounded like a child's voice.

The man, however, appeared less confused. In fact, he seemed to know exactly what was happening.

"No, Stevie, you're being rude," he said with a sigh. "If you're going to spy on our conversation, you may as well come out here and greet our guests."

"You weren't _having_ a conversation," said the boy as he stepped into the light. Teddy smirked. The boy had red hair, and it was almost a perfect Weasley red. Apparently, there were Weasley-esque people even outside of the Wizarding World.

The man shot them an apologetic look before turning back to his son. "Well, we would have if you hadn't interrupted. Was Teresa with you?"

"Yeah, but she ran away. Wimp."

"Be nice to your sister," said the man sternly, but Teddy could see his eyes twinkling. Evidently, his son noticed that, too.

"You call _me_ a wimp, though," said the boy, Stevie, indignantly.

"Yes, but only to your face," said the man laughing openly. He turned back to his guests with another apologetic look. "I'm sorry about him. I'm Jace Herondale. This is Stephen, but we usually call him Stevie."

"Ah. Well, I'm Edward Lupin, but most people call me Teddy." Teddy winked at Stevie. "I know a thing or two about terrible names."

"And yet you want to name your child Nymphadora Andromeda," drawled James. He stepped forward and held out his hand for Jace to shake. "I'm James Potter, and somehow between Teddy and I I've managed to be the mature one."

"Stop undermining my authority," whined Teddy.

"You don't have authority, Teds. I don't know what Dad was thinking, putting you in charge of me."

Jace watched them with an amused expression on his face. When they finished bickering, he said, "Okay, well, you can follow me. There are a couple others we're going to meet with." He turned to look at his son, and said to him, "You go find Teresa. I want you two to train on your own, okay? Bow and arrow. Also, don't kill each other. Your mother would kill me if you did. Then Uncle Alec would kill your mother, and we'd all be dead." Stevie laughed and ran away, down a dark hallway.

Jace beckoned to Teddy and James to follow him and led them through twisting hallways. Everything looked the same. It was terribly confusing. Without realizing it, Teddy's hair changed to a pale grey colour to mirror his confusion. He felt James elbow him in the ribs.

"Your hair," he hissed at Teddy under his breath. Teddy made a confused face at him. "It's grey," clarified James.

Teddy regarded him for a second and then shrugged. "I'm in the mood for grey hair. Blue is too typical. I need a change."

"You're such a _girl_ ," whined James.

Jace looked back at them. "You can change your hair colour?" he looked surprised at first, but seemed to quickly mask it.

"I can change my whole appearance," Teddy explained. "I'm a metamorphagi." He changed his nose into a pig snout and then back. This time, Jace hardly looked fazed. He just nodded and turned back around to open the door to a room.

It was the library, obviously, since there were books piled just about everywhere. They walked around a couple of corners and came to what looked like a central room of the library. There were already two people sitting at a table, and there were five more chairs open.

The two people, who had seemed to be deep in conversation, stood as they entered. The woman had red hair, but it wasn't as Weasley-red as the boy's had been, thank Merlin. Teddy did _not_ want to be surrounded by Weasley-looking people when he didn't have to be. He was married to a Weasley, for Merlin's sake.

The man was quite plain in comparison. He was skinny and had black hair. They all had marks tracing their skin. Some were dark black, while others were silvery and looked like they shimmered when they turned. Those were runes, Teddy remembered. They were sort of like magic, but not really. Or something.

"I'm Clarissa Herondale," said the woman, smiling at them. She shook each of their hands in turn. "You can call me Clary, though."

"I'm Edward Lupin, but you should call me Teddy." Teddy paused in thought for a moment, before adding, "I don't respond to Edward."

"I'm James Potter," said James, stepping partially in front of Teddy.

"You can call him Jamesie, though," added Teddy, pushing James out of the way.

"You really can't," said James, as the rest of the group laughed.

"I'm Alexander Lightwood," said the last of the group. "But I go by Alec. I'm the head of the London Institute, here."

The group sat down, and James began. "Right, so technically I'm Teddy's trainee," he said. Everyone looked at Teddy who was leaned back in his chair, a contented smile on his face, before James continued, "and I suppose you could say he's the better fighter of the two of us. But, erm, I'll probably be doing most of the talking."

Clary chuckled a little, and both Jace and Alec turned to look at her incredulously. "Sorry," she said in response to their looks. "I just can't help thinking that all hell will break loose between Teddy and Magnus when he gets here."

"Magnus?" asked James, whie Teddy grinned and added, "I like the sound of him." Magnus Bane, thought Teddy, was a very cool name. Just like Teddy Lupin. Teddy was going to make a new best friend.

Jace nodded but said, "I guess this a good place to start. Magnus Bane and Tessa Carstairs will be joining us, hopefully soon. The Ministry allowed us to place them in Hogwarts. They're each warlocks. Magnus will be teaching, what was it?" he asked, looking at Alec for help.

"Defence Against the Dark Arts," Alec continued seamlessly for him. "He's also the head of Hufflepuff house. Tessa is the Matron."

"Head of Hufflepuff?" asked Teddy. He grinned. Definitely best friend material.

Jace nodded and looked at him questioningly.

"Ignore him for now," James said helpfully. "He'll turn into business mode at some point and actually become helpful. I think."

"Right," said Clary. "Well, when they get here we can discuss the Hogwarts situation. What is the Ministry's view on the situation with the Fair Folk right now?"

"Shacklebolt, the Minister, isn't too concerned, I don't think," said James. "Teddy would know better than I do, he's in direct contact with the Minister."

Four heads turned around to Teddy, who was actually looking relatively prepared to talk, for once. "Right, well, I'm not really in direct contact with the minister. I'm in direct contact with the Head Auror. Also," he said, looking pointedly at James, "You live with the head Auror. You're in more direct contact than I am."

"We don't talk about work at home. Not the point, Teds."

"Sorry to interrupt," put in Clary, "But could you maybe run us through some family details, so we actually know what you're talking about when you talk like that?"

"Sorry," said Teddy, having the good sense to look a little bit abashed.

"Well," said James, "my dad is Harry Potter. He's the Head Auror. My uncle, Ron Weasley, is the Deputy Head. Teds is married to Uncle Ron's neice, so that makes him somehow related. Also, he's Harry's godson, and grew up with his grandmother, but was often at our house when we were all kids. So he's like my annoying older brother, even though we're not actually realted."

"That was confusing," said Alec. "It didn't help."

"It helped me," said Jace, sitting up a little bit straighter. "I always knew my brain was superior to yours."

"Not the time, Jace," said Clary, but she looked amused.

So, these people weren't completely serious all the time, Teddy realized. He liked them all a little bit more now.

"Anyways," said Teddy, "he doesn't think it's a big issue. He's a little bit worried about some sort of isolated attacks happening, but I think he thinks each world will keep to itself, like we always have in the past."

"It won't happen like that," said Jace. He was repeatedly spinning a very sharp knife around and around on the table. "They Fair Folk want wands. I'm not certain on that, but it would make the most sense. We know they want revenge for what the Clave did, we knew that as soon as they put all the laws on the Fey. But the Seelie Queen will want more than that. She was in league with Jonathan, after all. And the only place he didn't look was to the wizarding world." He seemed to almost spit out the name Jonathan. "Actually, most of that is what Magnus thinks. But I'm pretty sure he's right about this."

"That makes sense," put in James. "They have their own sort of magic, and wands could probably increase their capabilities with it."

"Exactly," said an unfamilliar voice. It was accompanied by an unfamilliar man striding into the room, with an amused looking woman following him. They were an interesting pair. Anyone looking could tell they were good friends, however where the man was all glitter and bright colours, the woman was much more reserved and seemed gentle.

Teddy watched him, grinning a little bit. Colours were good. Lots of bright colours. Yes.

Alec rose and gave the man a peck on the lips before turning back to the group with a bit of a blush and saying, "This is Magnus Bane and Teresa Carstairs. They are the warlocks who are at Hogwarts."

"Pleasure," said Magnus, with a sort of sweeping bow. "Now, lets get down to business."

Definitely best friend material.


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N: Long overdue, but hopefully well worth the wait :)**

 **P.S. Have patience with me; Magnus is my favourite character, but he's definitely a challenge to write. Although hopefully my recent re-read of The Bane Chronicles will help.**

 **(Disclaimer: much to my great disappointment, I am neither Cassie Clare, nor am I JK Rowling. So far, I think, every single character I have written belongs to one of them)**

There was a single NEWT level Defence Against the Dark Arts class, meaning naturally, Albus, Scorpius, and Rose were all in it. Upon walking in, Albus slid into the seat beside Scorpius, as had been tradition since first year Defence. Rose was sitting in front of them, beside her best friend and fellow Gryffindor Alice Longbottom. The two were chattering away in whispers, but occasionally threw looks back at Albus and Scorpius and giggled.

Bloody girls.

"What d'you think they're talking about?" Scorpius muttered to Al as he fidgeted with his wand, using silent spells to turn his parchment different colours.

"Us, by the looks of it," Al muttered back.

"Us? As if you would be part of their conversation."

"Scorp, my friend. For the observant individual you are, you really do miss some things." Albus ruffled his hair in a manner stunningly similar to James whenever he was being overconfident.

Scorpius had the nerve to simply raise an eyebrow in response. The over-confident bugger. Albus smirked right back and leaned forward in his chair to pull on a strand of Alice's hair. She turned around with an angry look on her face, but it softened when she saw that it was Al who was behind her.

"You're still up for a walk in the grounds tonight, yeah?" asked Albus smoothly. Alice blushed a bright shade of pink and nodded before turning back to continue her conversation with Rose.

"You did it?" Scorpius practically yelped.

"Keep it down! Yeah, I did. Also, I believe you owe me two galleons."

It had been common knowledge among most in their year, at least in Slytherin, that Albus had finished off sixth year with a huge crush on Alice. On the last night, in the middle of a full common room, Scorpius had bet him two galleons that he wouldn't ask her out by the first day of classes in seventh year. Al had immediately accepted his future loss of the two galleons, until one day in early July he received an owl from Alice. They had corresponded all summer and even met up a couple of times.

After the welcome feast, he had caught up to her on her way to Gryffindor Tower and asked her out. She accepted, but Scorpius and Rose were officially the first to find out.

"I'll give you the two galleons if it lasts longer than a week," Scorpius responded, still focusing intently on his parchment. Al took the advantage of his preoccupation to give him a hard slap to the side of the head. This resulted in a full out tussle between the two, that was stopped only when a strong force sent them careening away from each other and out of their desks.

"Right, now that you're all not trying to rip each other's hair out like teenage girls, we can begin," came a voice from the front of the clasroom as Albus and Scorpius both stood up and dusted themselves off. At the front of the room stood the eccentric looking Professor Bane. Today he had a line of gold, glittery eyeliner below eyes that looked suspiciously like cat eyes. Not that Al noticed such things. One bloke does not ever examine another bloke's eyes, as a general rule of thumb.

"Albus, is it?" asked Professor Bane lazily. He had sat down on the desk, one leg crossed over the other, hands in his lap.

"Yes sir," responded Albus as he and Scorpius sat back down.

"I had the privelege of meeting your brothers the other day. Interesting individuals. You don't seem very similar to them, though. Pity," he said with a shrug.

Albus glanced over and Scorpius, who was sitting there with a distinct _is-this-guy-for-real_ look on his face as Professor Bane walked towards the front of the clasroom and stood almost directly in front of Rose's desk.

"Anyways," he began, turning with a flourish, only to walk back to his desk and sit down again. Strange bloke. "I teach Defence Against the Dark Arts this year. I am also, supposedly a Professor. I'm not supposed to tell you this, but I'm actually not a wizard." The class erupted into excited whispers. Rose looked distinctly panicked. Albus smirked.

"What I am, is a warlock. Which means I'll be better at magic than any of you will ever be. You wave those little sticks all around all the time, and quite frankly, it's frightening. One day someone will poke my eye out.

"That being said, I also can't use a wand to do magic because of the ministry's guidelines, since I'm technically not human."

"Sir-" interjected Rose. Professor Bane raised an eyebrow at her. "If you're not a wizard, then how, exactly, are you going to teach us?"

"Interesting question, Miss…"

"Weasley, sir."

"Ah, yes. Miss Wembleby." Albus and Scorpius looked at each other and snickered. This was going to be one hell of a class. "This minor problem does complicate things a little bit. I don't really know how to teach at all, but FRET NOT," his voice rose to a shout as he leapt from the table. "You are capable seventh year students; you can teach yourselves. So, move along. Duel each other or something. Make it interesting for me."

And with that, Professor Bane sat down at his desk, leaned back in his char, and pulled out a copy of _Witch Weekly_.

Al glanced over at Scorpius to exchange grins but instead saw him ready his wand. Albus' grin turned into a smirk as he sent a silent stunning spell back Scorpus' way. If there was one thing that he, Albus Severus Potter, was better at than Scorpius, it was Defence.

Oh, and Quidditch.

Scorpius went flying backwards and knocked over a particularly annoying group of Hufflepuff girls, much to Albus's pleasure. Once Scorpius had collected himself, their duel started in earnest, prompting the entire class to back to the edges of the classroom. Both boys were focused intently on getting through one another's weaknesses, but, much to Al's current chagrin, their skills were proving matched and neither could get an advantage against the other.

Jinxes were muttered out loud, and curses were sent silently so they couldn't get in trouble for it. Naturally, they never sent the curses with intent to harm each other, but a little bit of frightening competition was always fun. Albus neatly dodged what he knew was a _sectumsemptra_ spell coming from Scorpius and retaliated silently with exactly the same spell of his own.

And of course, Scorpius _bloody_ Malfoy picked that moment to decide to pay more attention to his girlfriend than the duel he was in. Al watched in shock as his best friend collapsed on the ground, blood gushing from his chest.

Albus surged towards Scorpius, but was stopped by some invisible force before he could even come close. "Professor," growled Albus angrily as he pushed at the barrier, trying to get past it and to his best friend. The bloody barrier wouldn't move.

"Everybody out," came Professor Bane's voice from directly behind Al. "Class dismissed."

"But Professor-" Al began, only to be interrupted by a much louder demand on the part of Professor Bane. Resignedly, Al turned to leave, but not before giving one last look back at his best friend, bleeding on the ground.

"Albus Severus Potter, _what did you do_ ," hissed Rose as soon as Al stepped out into the corridor.

"I hit him with a jinx," he responded sheepishly.

" _What jinx?_ " There was a deadly glint in Rose's eyes. Rose was the type of person who could go from cheerful to angry in less than a second, and an angry Rose was a dangerous Rose. Not to mention he had just hit her boyfriend with a curse. If Rose was anything, it was protective of the people she loved.

"Sectumsemptra," replied Al even more sheepishly. Rose slapped him. Hard.

"You mean," she began in a deadly quiet voice, "the spell that lost Uncle George HIS EAR?"

"Keep it down," hissed Al. "The whole world doesn't have to know I accidentally cursed my best friend."

They had been walking towards the Gryffindor common room, but Al stopped Rose before they could get to close. While the three other houses got along better with Slytherin than they had in their parents' days, Gryffindor still liked picking fights with Slytherins, espeically with good justification for it. Regardless of the fact that he had, in fact, cursed someone from his own house, this was exactly the kind of justification a Gryffindor would look for. Bloody self-righteous gits.

"You deserve all of Gryffindor to know, Albus," huffed Rose. Her anger had simmered down, albeit slightly, and Al was feeling a little bit less frightened for his life. Bloody temperamental girls.

"Just keep it down," he groaned. "Plus, I only thought of using _sectumsemptra_ because _he_ used it first. And he wouldn't have been hit if he hadn't been so busy oggling you."

"Oh, so you're blaming it on _me_ now? When you're the one that used _sectumsemptra_ in a room full of bystanders? Anyone could have gotten hit, and you'd be in a lot more trouble if it hadn't been your best friend. You're in deep, Albus. I'm not helping you get out of this one." Rose turned on her heel and marched off to the Gryffindor common room. Albus knew better than to go after her – she was angry, probably at Scorpius too, and she'd need a lot of time to cool down.

With nothing better to do, Albus turned and headed towards the hospital wing, hoping that Scorpius was there and more or less healed. Classes were still going on, so the corridors were relatively empty which was a relief; it meant no one had heard what had happened yet, and no one had a reason to hate him. Yet.

"Potter," came a voice, rousing him from his thoughts. It was McGonagall, standing outside outside of the door to the hospital wing. Bloody brilliant. "May I have a word?" She beckoned towards the door of the hospital wing.

Albus felt his face whiten with nerves. It sounded like Scorpius wasn't here or wasn't awake, and clearly Al was in some huge trouble.

"Scorpius is fine, Albus," said McGonagall, her face softening slightly as if sensing his worry. Her face hardened again and her eyes flashed as she said, "I'll be needing to talk to both of you about why _exactly_ such a curse was used, let alone in a classroom."

Albus sheepishly followed her inside, but brightened when he set eyes on his best friend, sitting up in bed and also looking distinctly worried about McGonagall's presence. Under McGonagall's penetrating gaze, Al sat down on his best friends bed. Scorpius moved over to make room for him so they could sit side-by-side.

"Well, I believe we all know why we're here. Would one of you care to explain yourselves?"

Albus glanced at Scorpius, who had opened his mouth to reply, and smoothly cut off whatever he had been about to say. "It was my fault, Professor," said Albus. "Duel's between Scorp and I are fast, and I guess I was under pressure because everyone was watching. I was trying to think of more creative spells and that one just came up in my mind, and I guess I sent it as a silent spell," he lied.

McGonagall regarded him silently for a moment, and Albus tried not to shift his gaze to show that he was being untruthful. "Albus, Scorpius, need I remind you that I taught _both_ of your parents here when they were students." She paused for a moment, but it was clear she hadn't believed a word that Albus had said. "I happen to know that you are two of the school's most adept Defence students and I am sure you are capable of dueling at a level that is fit for a classroom, as well as two grown wizards. I will be writing to both of your parents. I am sure you will be more inclined to tell the truth if we are all together in my office. I will send a student down to collect you when they arrive, but until then you two are to stay here. Understood?"

"Yes, Professor," mumbled Scorpius and Albus in unison. McGonagall turned swiftly and exited the infirmary, robes billowing in her wake.

Albus turned and regarded Scorpius silently for a moment. Bloody distracted best friends.

"You could have paid more attention, you arse," he finally said, giving Scorpius a shove on the shoulder.

"This is an experience, though," responded Scorp despondently. "I never thought I'd end up in the infirmary of Hogwarts because I nearly bled out." He dropped his voice somewhat and muttered conspiratorially to Albus, "and the new Matron's not exactly hard on the eyes."

As if on cue, the new Matron that they had seen at the Professors table at the welcoming feast, Madame Gray, walked in.

"You must be Albus," she said, giving him a small smile. "Scorpius," she said, turning her attention, "you should be fine to go now, although from what I hear you'll be here for a little bit longer anyways." Al could see her eyes twinkling, even though she clearly looked at them with some disapproval.

"Madame Gray," began Scorpius, but the Matron stopped him with a wave of her hand.

"I'd prefer you call me Tessa. I hear you're two of Slytherin's star quidditch players, so I'm sure I'll be seeing lots of you. We may as well become friendly now."

"Er, right. Tessa, sorry, but – you're a warlock, yeah?"

She raised her eyebrows as if she had been expecting the question but wasn't sure how to respond. "I suppose you wouldn't believe me if I told you otherwise. I am, but try to keep it from spreading. People aren't supposed to know."

"Oh, we know," responded Albus with a smirk. "But that didn't stop Professor Bane telling the whole class of us that he was actually a warlock and didn't know how to teach."

Tessa looked at him in horror, but before she could reply someone barged in through the door. It was Rose. Bloody hell.

"Professor McGonagall wants you two in her office," she said after a brief smile at the matron. Her eyes were cold towards the two boys. Clearly, she had gotten angrier, if that was even possible. Bloody temperamental girl.

Albus and Scorpius stood up to exit. As they passed Rose, Ablus was sure he could physically feel the frigidity of her glare.

"Good luck, boys," said Tessa, her voice seeming to almost laugh. "Also – Miss Weasley, is it?" she asked, to which Rose nodded and turned back. "Could I have a word with you?"

The rest of the conversation was drowned out as the door shut behind the boys, and the best friends faced the long walk to McGonagall's office.

"How much d'you bet our parents will kill each other?" asked Scorp as they walked.

"A galleon that they'll be dead before we get into the room," replied Al with a snicker. It stopped as they arrived at the gargoyle to the Headmistress' office. "How much d'you bet our parents will kill us?"


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N: This chapter was giving me writer's block for some reason, so I'm sorry if it's a bit rough! I think I'm just a bit more invested in the Rose/Al/Scorp story line right now (even though I love Teddy dearly). Anyways, hopefully it'll pave the way for some better chapters now that it's out there!**

Teddy's cubicle at the Auror office was a mess. Not that Teddy minded, of course. It was an organized mess. He could find everything. Except, maybe, for that one, very important document on the Seelie Queen case. Not that it was lost. It was just…momentarily misplaced.

"JAMES," he yelled across the office. He actually didn't know where James was, it was more of a generalized yell in the hopes that James would hear it.

The meeting with Magnus and company was in half an hour, and he needed to review the file before they went over. Or rather, James needed to review the file and tell Teddy what was in it. Teddy was a fighter, a duelest. He was not a reader. The fact that he had passed the written portion of his NEWTs in order to become an Auror was nothing short of a miracle. It was, in fact, a small miracle in the form of private tutoring from Professor McGonagall herself.

"Looking for this?" James had appeared, dangling the imporant file in front of Teddy's face.

"James Potter, you blessed hero, conqueror of unspeakable fears," Teddy nearly shouted. "You have succeeded in bringing me the much treasured, ever important, top secret file."

"Well, it's not much of a secret any more, is it?" James smirked at Teddy, whose look of triumph had turned to a look of horror at the realization that he had just publicly proclaimed his glee over having a top secret file.

"Seriously, Ted," said James, "keep it down. This is important, even if, apparently, the minister doesn't think so."

"What's in the file, then?" asked Teddy with a rare display of responsibility. He sat down in his chair and leaned back to listen to James, who had perched himself on the messy desk.

"Well, it looks like Shacklebolt talked to the Clave. They're worried, but he's been passing it off as a Shadowhunter supremacy sort of thing. He doesn't think the Seelie Queen is actually going to do anything major."

"So it's low priority in the eyes of the Minister is what you're saying. Do we agree with this?"

"We'll hold off on a decision until we talk to the Shadowhunters. Somehow, I don't think we'll agree with the minister. I don't think he thinks anyone can be as bad as Voldemort."

Teddy sighed and rubbed his temples. He was pretty sure his hair had changed colour during this conversation. He hated that. It was like his emotions were written all over his hair or something. "Isn't Harry worried?" he asked after collecting his admittedly scattered thoughts.

"Yeah, but Shaklebolt is passing it off as stress after the Wizarding War. He said that Dad's been suspicious of everyone ever since. Which is true. Dad's a bit paranoid. So is Uncle Ron. But they hide it well, and I think he should trust Dad's opinion more. After all, Dad is Head Auror and he was the one that believed Voldemort was coming back when no one else did."

"You know," Teddy started, brightening at his own idea a little bit. James looked slightly trepaditious, which was natural, he supposed, considering Teddy's ideas were rarely any good. "I don't think Shaklebolt doesn't believe that anyone can be more evil than Voldemort," he paused for a moment, trying to mentally make sure his double negative at least sort of made sense. It was a long moment. It also didn't make sense, he didn't think, but he continued anyways, assuming that James would understand his point. "I think that he doesn't think that an area of the Ministry that no one ever talks about could be concerned with us, considering they don't talk about us either."

James nodded his head in agreement, which surprised Teddy. James rarely agreed with his ideas. Unless they weren't work related. Then James usually agreed with all of them.

"So, I guess we just have to prove that they are concerned with us. Or, you know, go into another war woefully unprepared," James sighed, slightly dramatically. That was one thing Teddy liked about James. James had a flare for the dramatic. Teddy did, too. And he liked drama. Once, he tried to start a drama club at Hogwarts, but apparently not many wizards feel acting is a suitable use of their time. And the Gryffindors, for whatever reason, bullied a lot of the Hufflepuffs into not coming. So, Teddy kept it up through his entire Hogwarts career as a one-man club. With creativity and individualism like his, he could practically have been a Ravenclaw.

"Are you two almost ready to go meet the Shadowhutners?" came a voice from the doorway of Teddy's cubicle. "You're going to be late."

Teddy looked up to see Harry Potter, the Head Auror and his godfather standing in the doorway. Harry's hair was graying faster these days, Teddy noticed. And the scar going across his face seemed to be more pronounced even than it had been the day he got it. Teddy didn't remember that day very well since he was at his grandmother's house, not Harry's, but he rememberd comign back over to a slightly more terrifying Harry. His lighning scar was hardly noticeable in comparison.

"We're just meeting Jace, Magnus, and Tessa at Hogwarts today," James told his father. "McGonagall's not even opening the floo line for another ten minutes."

"Oh? I'm actually also going into Hogwarts," Harry said. "Your brother is in a bit of trouble," he added in response to the questioning looks from both Teddy and James. At least, Teddy thought his look was questioning. Sometimes, when he tried to hard to convey thoughts through his facial expressions, he just ended up looking significantly constipated.

"What did he do?" asked James with a grin. He looked genuinely surprised that Albus was in trouble. Albus wasn't really one for getting in trouble. He didn't get into trouble, really. Actually, he did when he was younger, but he rarely got caught. Probably some sort of Slytherin voodoo.

"That's something he can tell you, if he wants to. McGonagall hasn't even told _me_ what's happened yet. She said she wanted Scorpius and Albus to tell us themselves." Harry responded.

James and Teddy both winced. "You and Draco Malfoy in the same room?" James asked. "Either something really bad happened or McGonagall is a complete nutter."

Harry gave James a stern, _that's-the-headmistress-you're-talking-about_ look. Or at least, that's what Teddy _thought_ the look meant. But he did add, "Not just me. Astoria and your mum will be there, too."

Teddy's eyes widened. He and James had both gotten into a lot of trouble by themselves at school, but never had Professor McGonagall been angry enough at them to have Ginny come in.

"He's a goner," Teddy said solomnley, shaking his head in disbelief.

"We should go," said James, breaking the solemn silence in the room, although he also appeared terrified on Albus' behalf. "McGonagall's going to open the her fireplace in five minutes, and I reckon she won't keep it open long if we're late. I'd rather not get dumped somewhere any less pleasant."

Together, the three of them trooped towards the lift that would take them to the Atrium in the ministry where the fireplaces were located. This was where McGonagall would open her floo to, since most offices in the ministry didn't have fireplaces and it would be foolish to have to apparate home only to floo into Hogwarts later.

After a rather uncomfortable lift ride involving awkward small talk (Teddy's least favourite thing) with the Minister for Magic himself, they arrived at the Atrium and in front of the fireplaces.

"See you in a moment," said Teddy brightly, winking at James, before he threw some floo powder into the fireplace. "Hogwarts!"

Floo powder was not, to say the least, Teddy's favourite method of travel. It was hot, uncomfortable, and generally disorienting. So, it was reasonable to say that it wasn't his own clumsiness that caused him to trip when he stepped out of the fireplace, landing in a heap in McGonagall's office.

He heard a noise that sounded like a cross between an amused snort and an embarrased groan and looked up to see Albus, Scorpius, Mr Malfoy, Mrs Malfoy, Ginny, and Professor McGonagall. Evidently, the noise had come from Scorpius, who was trying hard not to conceal a grin. Albus was doubled over in silent laughter.

Teddy stood up and cleared his throat in embarrasement. He couldn't be sure since there wasn't a mirror, but he had the distinct feeling that he had subconsciously changed his hair colour to some form of pink or red in his embarassement.

"Professor McGonagall," he said, extending his hand to the woman behind the desk. Teddy was pleased to see that her usually stern face appeared to be mildy amused. A mildly amused McGonagall was hard to achieve. Teddy was quite proud of himself.

"Mr Lupin," she responded. "And Mr Potter," she said, turning to the fireplace as James stepped through. "You will find Professor Bane in his office. Third floor, past the statue of Warwick the Weird. You are invited to stay for dinner and eat with your family, if you would like."

The atmosphere of the room was distinctly awkward. Teddy hated awkwardness. He noticed that Albus and Scorpius had both stopped laughing and were now just staring. Typical.

"Thanks, Headmistress," said James. Clearly James seeemed to have some of the presence of mind that Teddy didn't. What a boring way to live life.

They both stepped out of the office just as Harry stepped through in from the fireplace.

"Well that was awkward," said James finally.

"Are we staying for dinner? I miss Hogwarts food. Really just any food, I haven't eaten since lunch," said Teddy as he followed James down the staircase and jumped one of the trick stairs.

"We'll stay for dinner if Al and Scorpius are alive after that meeting, I want to hear what it's all about," responded James. Teddy couldn't tell whether or not his grin was a little bit triumphant. Probably was, he reflected.

"You know, I can't believe McGonagall brought Mum in to deal with Al, of all people," said James thoughtfully. "I had thougtht it would have been one of us. Remember that time I hexed Henry Zabini and he sprouted wings?" Teddy roared with laughter at the memory.

"You were only in second year," guffawed Teddy. "I think she was impressed with that one, really. What second year can make a bloke grow wings?"

They were both laughing as they stopped in front of the door to Magnus' office. James knocked as Teddy tried to calm down, but he was still laughing as they entered the room. It was okay, though. Laughter was good. Teddy liked laughing.

"Welcome," said Magnus with a flourishing bow. Jace and Tessa appeared to have already seated themselves around Magnus' desk, so Teddy conjured up two chairs so that he and James could join them.

Teddy looked aroudn the room and decided he liked Magnus even more than when he had first met him. It was full of old books and runes and, most importantly, glitter. The only thing that Teddy found strange was the unsettlingly still picture of Magnus, Alec, and two young boys sitting on Magnus' desk.

"What's been happening on your side?" asked Jace, forgoeing all pleasantries. Teddy didn't like Jace very much. He was too serious. "I mean, with the Ministry?"

"Nothing has changed, really," said Teddy. "They don't believe anything."

"Shacklebolt reckons dad is going mad," added James. "Thinks he's paranoid after the first big war. Doesn't want to believe that the Seelie's would bug us now, seeing as they've never bothered us before."

"Typical," said Magnus, with a small snort.

There was a moment's pause before Tessa, looking thoughtful, said, "We need to find a way to make the ministry believe the Seelies will be a problem. Before they actually become a problem."

Teddy considered this for a moment, along with all the others, but then grinned. "Veritaseum."

"What?" asked James and Jace together. They were both staring. Teddy wasn't a fan of staring, either, unless he was the one doing it.

"We catch a faeire. Then we use veritaseum on it to make it tell the truth about what they're up to." He, Theodore Remus Lupin, was a genius.

"Ted," groaned James. "Faeries already can't lie. Veritaseum won't help us. Although capturing one wouldn't be a bad idea."

"No, he's right," put in Tessa, just as Teddy's spirit had begun to fall. "Just because they can't lie doesn't mean they'll tell the truth.:

"The faerie might just refuse to talk, though," put in Jace. Teddy grinned triumphantly. His idea was smart. He was smarter than Jace.

"Veritaseum forces the drinker to talk," responded Teddy smugly. "The faeire would have to tell the truth plainly, they'll have to answer."

"Perfect," grinned Jace, almost ferally. "So, how do we go about doing this?"

"Legally we have to consult the Wizengamot first," sighed James. "We have to get permission for it. It'll be hard but I don't think it's impossible. I know for a fact that there are people on the Wizengamot that are as concerned as we are, and all we need is a majority vote."

Magnus nodded at this. "You and Theodore do that, then," he replied. "We'll keep an ear out on in the Shadowhunter world as much as we can. We can reconvene here when your process is done."

"It'll take a while," said Teddy. "If we're at the end of September now, it'll be close to Christmas probably, before we have the go ahead."

"Fine then," responded Jace. "We'll meet in a week or two, here, and discuss what we can do in the interim."

All agreed, Teddy stood up with James to leave.

"You know, I'm worried about you, Ted," said James as the door closed behind them. "You didn't say a single strange thing all evening."

"Not to worry, mate," responded Teddy, grinning although he was slightly put out at himself. He hopped onto James' back, startling him and almost causing him to topple. "Onward, good steed. Dinner awaits!"


End file.
